Wine Openers - Blog

Next week the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen celebrates its 30th year in Glitter Gulch and I’ll be there, trying to blend in. Thanks to the generosity of the folks at Food & Wine magazine and its advertising agencies, I’m attending again this year as a working guest of the Food & Wine Classic. Well, me and scads of reporters, journalists and photographers, many of whom actually will be working and others, well, enjoying the Food & Wine Classic. Everyone ...

Every neighborhood has a diehard who grills year-round, but for most us the Memorial Day weekend marks the official start to the summer grilling season. Now that we’re already a weekend into grilling season, you’ll have abundant opportunities to discover how wine fits into your favorite backyard meal. Whether you are firing that grill for hot dogs, thick steaks, sausages or portobellos and veggies, don’t hesitate to grab a glass and enjoy the recommendations. The ...

Paula Mitchell, whose most-recent book, “Exploring Colorado Wineries — Guidebook & Journal,” is now available, will be in the Grand Valley this week to reinforce friendships with some of Colorado’s long-established wineries. Unfortunately, Mitchell’s whirlwind schedule doesn’t allow for a formal book-signing on this go-around, but a future signing (Colorado Mountain Winefest, perhaps?) could happen if her series of hour-long visits to local ...

This weekend (May 12-13) is Mother's Day. Yep, the whole weekend and if you know what's right, it's the whole year. Saturday's event is the annual Wine, Buffalo and Chocolate Mother's Day Trail hosted by Leroux Creek Vineyards, Liliputian Winery and Dave and Sue Whittlesey's High Wire Elk and Buffalo Ranch. All the venues are on the verdant Rogers Mesa, between Austin and Hotchkiss, and it's a lovely break from the dry climes of the Grand Valley, where ...

The DrinkLocalWine conference last weekend in Denver was a hoot, with plenty of wines (mostly good), seminars (all good) and frank talk (mixed) about Colorado’s wine industry. The general reception seemed to be Colorado winemakers are on the right track and making decent to very good wines but overall the industry needs a few more years to mature and find itself. That’s neither shocking nor new, even though there are some winemakers here who already have found their niche ...

A nation of wine writers descends on Denver April 27-29 to get a grape’s eye view of the state’s wine industry during the fourth annual DrinkLocalWine conference. What they’ll find, particularly those who think the wine-making earth ends just east of San Luis Obispo, is the water here is safe and so is the wine. The DrinkLocalWine movement was initiated by wine blogger Jeff Siegel (The Wine Curmudgeon) and Washington Post wine writer Dave McIntyre, both of whom want ...

Wine consumers could be paying higher prices as the world-wide glut of wine and wine grapes shows signs of ending. Reports from several major wine-trade websites are saying a series of low harvests worldwide along with a global rise in wine consumption point toward the possibility of a wine shortage, something unthinkable a few years ago when the world seemed awash in wine. Shanken News Daily reported California has suffered two consecutive small harvests, which means wine makers are ...

It's not what you think, and maybe that's a good thing. The wine goddess in this case is Edesia, and she's the namesake of the Palisade's “Edesia, a Palisade Culinary, Wine and Spirits Adventure” on March 18 comes to the Wine Country Inn. Edesia is said to be the goddess of banquets and food preparation and she usually hangs with partner Bibesia, goddess of drink, the two ensuring any party they hit is a great time. They certainly are benevolent goddesses, ...

Sunday’s snowstorm and cold temperatures may have come as a shock to those already thinking spring had arrived in the Grand Valley but it was a good thing for the area’s grape crop. While the moisture was needed, it’s the return to cold temperatures that’s really welcome. That the winter has been warmer than usual doesn’t surprise many people, but the degree to which it’s been warmer might. "Our average (daily) high is running about 5.5 degrees ...

There’s long been a saying in the wine industry that customers “talk dry but drink sweet.” That’s more true now than even 10 years ago, given the recent rise in popularity of sweet wines. These range from the dessert-style wines (Port, ice wines, fruit-and-chocolate wines) to the more-subtle but still noticeably sweet red wines many winemakers now offer. So popular are sweet wines they were the topic of a symposium sponsored recent,y by the Robert Mondavi ...

Don't be surprised to see wine prices increase this year, says the always entertaining and informative writer W. Blake Gray on his blog, The Gray Market Report. Gray lists smaller vintages in California, Italy and Spain as warning signs that the world's ocean of wine has shrunk considerably over the past few years, forcing prices up as demand, particularly in the U.S., continues to grow. Forget arguing over to what degree quality affects wine prices, he says. "Pricing ...

A wine-art poster contest won by a poster done in wine. Gary Hauschulz’s Winefest Art Competition-winning painting “Red, White and Fruit” features Colorado wines and found inspiration ranging from cruise ship guests, an American Pop-art painter and a Dutch Golden Age artist known for his group portraits. The painting, which shows a smiling face lifting a glass in toast with another, also denotes which wines Hauschulz used in the making. The theme, said Hauschulz, ...

Surely it’s not too late for a few New Year’s resolutions? It's seems too soon to be a few days into the New Year. I was busy trying to find last year’s list, just to see what I missed out on procrastinating about. Just say I’m just well-practiced in putting off making (and breaking) those pesky resolutions. So here goes, a partial salute to the New Year and a look ahead to months of swirling, sipping and scribbling. Taste more Colorado wines – ...

It’s almost New Year’s Eve, and the popping already has begun. Not the fireworks, although those too will surely come as the clock counts down to midnight, but the sound of corks being jettisoned from bottles of sparkling wines. For many people, ending one year and beginning the next with Champagne or some other sparkling wine is a tradition. If so, it’s one indelibly linked to the economy. According to the Wine Institute, which tracks things like this, in 2007, ...